AS Congress debates creating a path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants, it must at the same time remove one of the biggest obstacles on that path: the cost of applying for citizenship. Citizenship and Immigration Services, part of the Department of Homeland Security, charges $680 (including a mandatory $85 to cover fingerprinting) to apply for naturalization. This steep fee, which can amount to more than two weeks wages for some immigrants, is so high that it effectively denies legal permanent residents a chance to become American citizens. Congress must come up with an easy, common-sense fix to ensure that eligible permanent legal residents who are already in this country don't have their path to citizenship blocked by onerous fees.
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